Doll of flexible material with freely rotatable body members



001.1. OF FLEX-IBLE MATERIAL WITH FREELY ROTATABLE BODY MEMBERS Filed Feb. 19, 1953 July 10, 1956 D COHN 2,753,659

(U i K\\ :1 IN VEN TOR. 0/1 V/D COH V United States Patent DOLL 0F FLEXIBLE MATERIAL WITH FREELY RUTATABLE BODY MEMBERS David Colin, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor to Model Plastics ifiorgroration, White Plains, N. Y., a corporation of New or r Application February 19, 1953, Serial No. 337,740 8 Claims. (Cl. 46-461) The present invention relates to a novel means for mounting a body member on a doll body so that said member is freely rotatable thereon, and is particularly adapted for use with dolls and/ or body members formed of soft or flexible material.

In many dolls it is desired that certain body members such as legs or arms, be adjustably positionable with respect to the doll body, those members, when once moved to a given position, retaining that position. In other dolls, such as, for example, walking dolls," mechanism is provided for moving the body members relative to the body while the doll is being used. In dolls of this latter type it is required that the body members (the legs) be mounted on the body so as to be relatively freely movable with respect thereto, the position of the legs relative to one another and to the doll body being controlled by the moving mechanism inside the doll with which the legs are operatively engaged. The present invention relates primarily to this last mentioned type of doll construction.

When the doll body and the body members are formed of hard or rigid material, the mounting of the body member in the body to provide for ready rotatability presents no particular problem. However, the trend today is toward the manufacture of dolls of soft and rubbery material, both for economic reasons and because such materials produce a doll having a more lifelike feel, and consequently a greater customer appeal. However, the use of such soft materials makes it extremely diflicult to mount a body member in a body and provide for ready rotatability of one with respect to the other. Materials of the type under discussion will not slide freely one on the other, but will tend to bind or stick, and mutually interengaging bearing surfaces of such materials will exhibit so great a frictional resistance to relative sliding of one on the other that, insofar as is known to applicant, no commercially practicable walking doll construction has yet been devised in which the doll body and the body members are formed of soft and flexible material.

Another impediment to the use of material of this type in walking dolls resides in the fact that the weight of the doll must of necessity be borne at times by a ingle leg thereof, and when the doll is formed of such material it does not have sufficient rigidity to withstand the strains to which it will be subjected in use. The present invention relates to a simplified rigidifying means for legs or other body members formed of such materials, by means of which they are permitted to function in an efficient and entirely satisfactory manner without detracting from their compressibility or softness of feel.

The present invention is here shown in the form of a walking doll the walking mechanism of which is disclosed and claimed in my copending application Ser. No. 304,146, filed on August 13, 1952, and entitled Leg Mounting Structure for a Walking Doll or the Like, assigned to the assignee of the instant application, but will be understood that any other walking mechanism could be employed. Both the legs and the body of the doll element from radially collapsing or contracting.

flexible material such as rubber or the like. The doll is provided with apertures into which portions of the legs are received. Those apertures are lined with a smooth, rigid material, this material being applied in the form of a ring insert with flanges which grip the inner and outer surfaces of the material of the doll body so as to firmly hold the ring in place. The legs, which may be taken as typical of other body members, have portions adapted to be received and to rotate within the ring inset on the body. Those surfaces of the legs adapted to engage and rotate over the ring inset on the body are covered by a bearing material also formed of some smooth and rigid material, the hearing member being held in place on the leg so as to move therewith. In this way, although the body of the doll and the legs may be formed of soft flexible material, the bearing surfaces are defined by smooth and rigid materials having a low mutual coefflcient of friction, thus providing for ready rotatability of the legs with respect to the body. For economic reasons it is preferred that the ring insert in the body be formed of some moldable thermosensitive material such as a vinyl resin, and when this is the case it is preferred that the bearing member be formed of metal since the interengagement of vinyl surfaces gives rise to an appreciable tendency toward binding or stickiness, whereas interengaging metal and vinyl surfaces slide over one another in an eminently satisfactory manner.

in order to assist in holding the bearing element in position on the leg without the use of adhesive, the leg is provided with a rigid reinforcing element receivable inside that portion of the leg the outside of which carries the bearing element. This reinforcing element may also serve as the structure by means of which the leg is operatively connected to the Walking mechanism. The reinforcing element snugly fits Within the leg so as to prevent that portion of the leg carrying the bearing The soft flexible material of which the leg is formed is preferably compressed between the reinforcing element and the bearing element so that each is firmly frictionally held in position. The reinforcing element may be provided with an inner flange engaging an appropriate portion of the interior of the leg and with an outer flange adapted to fit over the bearing element when the latter is placed in position and thus positively retain the latter against axial displacement. The outer surface of this outer flange is preferably downwardly and outwardly inclined so that the reinforcing element can first be placed in position, the bearing element then being pressed into position and the outer flanges of the reinforcing element first giving way and then snapping over the surface of the bearing element after the latter has been slid home. Both the bear ing element and the reinforcing element may be readily constructed on a mass production basis and the assembly of both of these elements on the leg or other body member requires manipulation of the most elementary sort.

In order to rigidify legs or other body members formed of soft and flexible material, those body members usually being hollow, a rod of stiff material is pre-bent to conform approximately to the internal contour of the body member and is slipped into the body member through an aperture therein, preferably the same aperture adapted to receive the reinforcing and bearing elements. The rod will engage or be operatively connected to the outer and inner extremities of the body member and thus will serve to rigidify the same to a degree consistent with its use in a Walking doll or comparable device.

When the body members are adapted to be used in conjunction with a walking mechanism of the same type are formed of a soft and as that disclosed in my aforementioned copending application Ser. No. 304,146, the reinforcing element may take the form of a flanged ring having a bar extending thereacross, that bar being engaged by the resilient element which holds the limbs in place and that bar engaging the grooves formed in the end surfaces of the movable members which form a part of the walking mechanism.

7 To the accomplishment of the above, and to such other objects as may hereinafter appear, the present invention relates to a doll structure and to a structure for providing relatively free rotatability between a doll body and a body member associated therewith, as defined in the appended claims, and as described in this specification, taken together withthe accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a front elevational view, partially broken away, showing a doll constructed according to the present invention;

Fig. 2 is. a three-quarter perspective exploded view of the specific walking mechanism incorporated therein;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view on an enlarged scale, partially broken away and partially in cross section, showing the details of the leg-mounting and leg-rigidifying structure;

Fig. 4 is a front elevational view, taken from the left hand side of Fig. 3, of the leg-rigidifying structure;

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the rigid reinforcing element; and

Fig. 6 is a front elevational view thereof.

As here disclosed the doll comprises a body 2 on which a head 4 is mounted and at the upper extremity of which arms 6 are mounted in any appropriate manner. The doll is provided with any desired walking mechanism generally designated 8, mounted within the hollow doll body 2 at the lower end thereof and opposite apertures 10 adapted to receive portions of the legs 12.

The walking mechanism comprises a supporting element 14 having cylindrical ends 16 and having an axial passage 18 therethrough. A central upward projection 20 is preferably formed integral therewith, said projection having a vertical aperture 22 into which the end 24 of an operating shaft 26 is received, that shaft having an integrally formed pair of looped portions 28 positioned above the tip 24 and extending to either side thereof and over the cylindrical ends 16 of the supporting element 14.

A pair of substantially identical movable members generally designated 30 are rotatably mounted, one on each of the cylindrical element ends 16. The outer end surfaces of the movable members 30 are provided with a pair of grooves 32 and 34, those grooves being angularly related to one another and preferably oriented substantially perpendicular to one another, the angular relationship between the grooves 32 and 34 corresponding to the desired difference in frontal angular position in the legs 12 in sitting and standing position respectively. The movable members 30 are interconnected for alternate back and forth movement, so as to cause the legs 12 to simulate walking in a manner to be explained hereinafter, by means of pins 36 secured to and extending upwardly from the movable members 30 and entering the loops 28 formed in the shaft 26. The upper end of the shaft 26 may be journalled in the body 2 in any desired manner, or may be connected, if desired, to the head 4 so as to impart a swinging movement to the head when the doll walks.

The doll body 2 as well as the head 4 or arms 6 if desired, is preferably formed of some soft and flexible material such as rubber, vinyl or the like. In order to provide a proper bearing surface at the body apertures 10, a ring insert 38, which may be formed of some moldable thermosensitive material such as vinyl resin or the like, is caused to line the apertures 10, the ring 38 having in ner and outer flanges 40 and 42 respectively adapted to be received over the inner and outer surfaces of the wall of the body 2 adjacent the aperture 10, those wall portions preferably being thickened, and to compress those wall portions between themselves so as to firmly hold the ring 38 in place. For convenience in molding and to facilitate placing the rings 38 in position, the flanges 4t) and 42 may be non-continuous, the flanges 40 being provided over those portions of the periphery of the ring 38 Where the flanges 42 are not provided.

The legs 12 are also preferably formed of some soft and flexible material such as rubber, vinyl or the like, are hollow, and have at their upper extremity a first portion 44 smaller than and adapted to fit inside of the ring 38 and a second and wider portion 46 larger than and hence not passable through the ring 38. A ledge 48 is defined between the leg portions 44 and 46 substantially perpendicular to the outer surface of the leg portion 44 and parallel to the outer flange 42 and the ring 38. An aperture 58 providing access to the interior of the leg 12 is formed in the leg portions 44 and 46.

In order to rigidify the hollow and flexible leg 12, a rigidifying element in the form of a bent rod 52 is inserted into the leg 12 via the aperture 50, the rod 52 being pre-bent to substantially conform to the internal contour of the leg 12 and having a bottom part 54 which engages the inside of the foot area 56 of the leg 12 and an upper rounded portion 58 which engages the inner surface of the upper end of the leg 12.

A reinforcing element generally designated 60 is mounted within the aperture 50, that element being formed of some rigid material, for example, a molded thermosensitive material such as vinyl resin or the like, and comprises a ring wall 62 which snugly fits the inside of the aperture 50 and extends therethrough, one end of the wall 62 being provided with an outwardly tapered flange 64 which engages the inner surface of the leg 12 inside the portion 46 thereof, which is preferably thickened. The flange 64 prevents the reinforcing element 60 from being withdrawn axially from the aperture 50 once it has been inserted therein. The other end of the wall 60 is provided with a pair of diametrically opposed'lip flanges 66 the outer surfaces of which are outwardly and downwardly inclined. The lip flanges 66 will usually be radially shorter than the flanges 64. To facilitate molding of the reinforcing elements 60 the flange 64 is not con tinuous, but is provided with gaps 68 substantially coincident with the lip flanges 66. A bar 70 is preferably formed integral with the ring 62 and extending thereacross, preferably at the inner part thereof and even projecting from the inner end thereof, that bar having a rounded outer surface adapted to be received within one or the other of the grooves 32, 34 in the movable members 30 which a part of the walking mechanism, the bar 70 having a central narrow portion 72 around which a hook 74 is received, the two hooks 74 being connected by a rubber band 76 or the like which passes through the walking mechanism and pulls the legs 12 into the body apertures 10.

A bearing element generally designated 78 is in the form of a ring-like shell of rigid material, and preferably of metal, particularly when the ring 38 is formed of a thermosensitive material such as vinyl resin. It is defined by an end wall 80 which fits over the end surface of the leg portion 44, an outer wall 82 at right angles to the end wall 80 and fitting over the outer surface of the leg portion 44, and an inner wall 84 at right angles to the wall 82 and fitting over the ledge 48. The bearing element 78 is forced into position by being slid over the leg portion 44 after the reinforcing element 60 has first been properly positioned, the radially inwardly disposed tips of the end wall 80 sliding over the outwardly and downwardly cammed outer surfaces of the lip flanges 66, the flanges 66 and the wall 80 cooperatively giving way until the bearing member 78 has been positioned home, after which the lip flanges 66 will snap the outer surface of the wall 80 and thus positively retain the hearing element 78 in position. The relative dimensions of the reinforcing element 60 and bearing element 78 are such that the walls of the leg 12 defining the leg portions 44 and 46 will be firmly frictionally gripped, and preferably somewhat compressed, when the two elements are in position. The bearing element 78 will prevent the leg portion 44 from radially expanding, and hence the reinforcing element 60 cannot be removed therefrom. The reinforcing element 60 will prevent the leg portions 44 and 46 from radially contracting, and in addition the lip flanges 66 will engage with the end wall 80 of the bearing element '78, thus preventing the latter from being displaced.

When the hooks 74 engage the narrow portions 72 of the bar 70 of the reinforcing element 60, the upper ends of the legs 12 will be resiliently urged into the doll body 2 via the rings 38, the outer Walls 82 being received within and defining bearing surfaces in conjunction with the bodies of the rings 38 and the bearing element walls 84 defining bearing surfaces in conjunction with the ring flanges 42. Since these bearing surfaces are defined between smooth and rigid substances, free rotatability will result despite the fact that the doll is almost entirely composed of rubber or the like. When the ring 38 is formed of vinyl resin or the like, the fact that the bearing element 78 is formed of metal will ensure minimal frictional resistance between the interengaging surfaces.

From the above description it will be apparent that the doll may be constructed of rubber or the like so as to have that softness of feel which is so desired, yet in which the legs are so freely rotatively mounted on the body and the legs are so readily and adequately rigidified that a walking mechanism may be incorporated into such a doll so as to function in an eminently satisfactory manner.

While the invention has been here disclosed in but a single form, the movable body members being specifically shown as legs, one specific type of walking mechanism being used in conjunction therewith and the parts of the leg mounting structure being specifically designed to cooperate with that particular style of walking mechanism, it will be apparent that many variations may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit thereof as defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A doll comprising a body of flexible material having an aperture in which a member is to be journalled, said member being formed of flexible material, a ring of rigid material lining said aperture and having flanges which engage the inner and outer surfaces of the body adjacent said aperture so as to fix said ring in position, said member having a first portion at least partially received and rotatable within said ring, said first member portion having an end surface and an outer surface, said member having a second and wider portion rotatable over the ring flange on the outer surface of said body, both of said member portions being hollow and said second member portion widening interiorly thereof, a substantially rigid reinforcing element fitting inside said member portions, said reinforcing element having flanges overlying the end surface of said first member portion and the widened inside of said second member portion so as to fix said element in position, and means operatively connected to said member for holding it with its first portion in said ring and its second portion against said ring flan e.

2 The doll of claim 1, in which said second member portion widens interiorly thereof, said reinforcing element having a flange overlying the widened inside surface of said second portion and having another flange which engages the outer surface of that part of said bearing element which fits over the end surface of said first member portion.

3. A body member for a doll, such as a leg or arm, said member being hollow, formed of a flexible material, and comprising a bearing portion with a restricted aperture leading into the wider hollow interior thereof, said bearing portion having a narrow extending part with an end surface and an outer surface which meets a ledge communicating with the outer surface of a wider part of said member, a substantially rigid reinforcing element snugly received within said aperture so as to prevent the radial collapse thereof, and a bearing element snugly fitting at least partially over the outer surfaces of the ex tending bearing portion part and at least partially over said ledge, said bearing element having angularly related outer surfaces adapted to be engaged with and rotated over corresponding bearing surfaces on the doll, said re-- inforcing element being provided with an outer flange which engages that part of said bearing element over the end surface of said extending bearing portion part.

4. The body member of claim 3, in which the outer surface of said flange is inclined outwardly and downwardly whereby said bearing element may be snapped over said reinforcing element after the latter is in place.

5. The body member of claim 3, in which said reinforcing element is provided with an inner flange which engages the wider hollow interior of said body member.

6. The body member of claim 3, in which the outer surface of said flange is inclined outwardly and downwardly, whereby said bearing element may be snapped over said reinforcing element after the latter is in place.

7. The body member of claim 3, in which said reinforcing member is in the form of annulus with a bar extending from one side thereof to the other.

8. A doll comprising a body of flexible material having an aperture in which a member is to be journalled, said member being formed of flexible material, a ring of rigid material lining said aperture and having flanges which engage the inner and outer surfaces of the body adjacent said aperture so as to fix said ring in position, said member having a first portion at least partially received and rotatable within said ring and having an end surface and an outer surface, said outer surface extending to a ledge substantially at right angles thereto, said member having a second and wider portion rotatable over the ring flange on the outer surface of said body, said member portions being hollow, a substantially rigid reinforcing element fitting inside said member portions to prevent them from radially contracting, and a substantially rigid bearing element fitting at least partially over the outer surface of said first member and said ledge, said bearing element having angularly related outer surfaces engageable with and rotatable over the inner surface and the outer flange of the ring in said doll body, and means operatively connected to said member for holding it with its first portion in said ring and its second portion against said ring flange, said second member portion widening interiorly thereof, said reinforcing element having a flange overlying the widened inside surface of said second portion and having another flange which engages said outer surface of that part of said bearing element which fits over the end surface of said first member portion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 447,034 Pulvermacher Feb. 24, 1891 477,892 Fleischmann June 28, 1892 1,120,331 Parsons Dec. 8, 1914 1,293,056 Dunlany Feb. 4, 1919 1,560,877 Taggart Nov. 10, 1925 1,615,401 Payne Jan. 25, 1927 1,938,865 Schaeifer Dec. 12, 1933 2,611,998 Senior Sept. 30, 1952 2,621,443 Black Dec. 16, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 262,909 Germany July 26, 1913 11,064 Great Britain A. D. 1915 695,174 France Dec. 12, 1930 

